A little over a month ago, we
told you about the four new steps
we’re taking to combat terrorist content on YouTube: better
detection and faster removal driven by machine learning, more
experts to alert us to content that needs review, tougher standards
for videos that are controversial but do not violate our policies,
and more work in the counter-terrorism space.

We wanted to give you an update on these commitments:

Better detection and faster removal driven by machine
learning: We’ve always used a mix of technology and human
review to address the ever-changing challenges around controversial
content on YouTube. We recently began developing and implementing
cutting-edge machine learning technology designed to help us
identify and remove violent extremism and terrorism-related content
in a scalable way. We have started rolling out these tools and we
are already seeing some positive progress:

Speed and efficiency:
Our machine learning systems are faster and more effective than
ever before. Over 75 percent of the videos we've removed for
violent extremism over the past month were taken down before
receiving a single human flag.

Accuracy: The
accuracy of our systems has improved dramatically due to our
machine learning technology. While these tools aren’t perfect,
and aren’t right for every setting, in many cases our systems
have proven more accurate than humans at flagging videos that
need to be removed.

Scale: With over
400 hours of content uploaded to YouTube every minute, finding
and taking action on violent extremist content poses a
significant challenge. But over the past month, our initial use
of machine learning has more than doubled both the number of
videos we've removed for violent extremism, as well as the rate
at which we’ve taken this kind of content down.

We are encouraged by these
improvements, and will continue to develop our technology in order
to make even more progress. We are also hiring more people to help
review and enforce our policies, and will continue to invest in
technical resources to keep pace with these issues and address them
responsibly.

More experts: Of course, our systems are only as
good as the the data they’re based on. Over the past weeks, we have
begun working with more than 15 additional expert NGOs and
institutions through our Trusted Flagger program, including the
Anti-Defamation League, the No Hate Speech Movement, and the
Institute for Strategic Dialogue. These organizations bring expert
knowledge of complex issues like hate speech, radicalization, and
terrorism that will help us better identify content that is being
used to radicalize and recruit extremists. We will also regularly
consult these experts as we update our policies to reflect new
trends. And we’ll continue to add more organizations to our network
of advisors over time.

Tougher standards: We’ll soon be applying tougher
treatment to videos that aren’t illegal but have been flagged by
users as potential violations of our policies on hate speech and
violent extremism. If we find that these videos don’t violate our
policies but contain controversial religious or supremacist content,
they will be placed in a limited state. The videos will remain on
YouTube behind an interstitial, won’t be recommended, won’t be
monetized, and won’t have key features including comments, suggested
videos, and likes. We’ll begin to roll this new treatment out to
videos on desktop versions of YouTube in the coming weeks, and will
bring it to mobile experiences soon thereafter. These new approaches
entail significant new internal tools and processes, and will take
time to fully implement.

Early
intervention and expanding counter-extremism work: We’ve
started rolling out features from
Jigsaw’s Redirect Method
to YouTube. When people search for sensitive keywords on YouTube,
they will be redirected towards a playlist of curated YouTube videos
that directly confront and debunk violent extremist messages. We
also continue to amplify YouTube voices speaking out against hate
and radicalization through our YouTube Creators for Change
program. Just last week, the U.K. chapter of Creators for Change,
Internet Citizens,
hosted a two-day workshop for 13-18 year-olds to help them find a
positive sense of belonging online and learn skills on how to
participate safely and responsibly on the internet. We also pledged
to expand the program’s reach to 20,000 more teens across the U.K.

And over the weekend, we hosted our latest Creators for Change
workshop in Bandung, Indonesia, where creators teamed up with
Indonesia’s Maarif Institute to teach young people about the
importance of diversity, pluralism, and tolerance.

Altogether, we have taken significant steps over the last month in
our fight against online terrorism. But this is not the end. We know
there is always more work to be done. With the help of new machine
learning technology, deep partnerships, ongoing collaborations
with other companies through the Global Internet Forum, and our
vigilant community we are confident we can continue to make progress
against this ever-changing threat. We look forward to sharing more
with you in the months ahead.